Wednesday, November 7, 2012

I have been working on a couple of new quilts. There seems to always be a dearth of ideas for boy quilts. When the new Dr. Seuss fabric lines came out a couple of years ago, I thought they would be perfect for boys. I have been wanting to do something with my Dr. Seuss stash of fabrics for quite some time. Now was the time to get started on a couple of boy quilts.

The first is Bear Paw pattern for a 1 year old boy. At first I was planning on making this a variation of the traditional Bear Paw that uses no sashing or space between the blocks. However, the Dr. Seuss fabric is very colorful and busy and these paws were asking for places for the eyes to rest while looking at the quilt. As a result, I went back to the traditional pattern. I made the white space between the paws about 1/2 the normal width and each paw is made from one fabric. I did fussy cut some of the larger squares to make sure I preserved the Seuss characters, but the claws are all random cuts of the matching fabric. I wanted the colors to be consistent.

I used the plain aqua fabric to add a little calm to the layout. Since this is for a 1 year old, I also kept the white areas to a minimum. I do like the way the white contrasting fabric sets off the paws and really makes them stand out. I expect this quilt to get a lot of use -- at least I hope so!

Here is the finished top. The quilt has been sent to the quilter - Cindy Luby, of Cindy Luby Designs in Springfield, VA. She is a fabulous long arm quilter. She's not far from my home. I can't wait to see the final quilted version.